The broker wouldn’t give his name, but said his company, ajtickets2002, operates out of Richmond, with offices in New Jersey and New York. He’s offering on eBay to transfer his four seats to the winning bidder as soon as it’s legally possible.

His company bought the tickets during Saturday’s general sale.

“They allowed us to log on. I had one of my employees get them,” said the broker.

The fact scalpers have bought up tickets is a bitter pill to swallow for diehard fans.

Kevin MacDonald and his fiancee were online at noon Saturday and were still trying for tickets when reports announced they had sold out in 17 minutes.

“I can’t put into words how frustrating that is,” MacDonald said. “They don’t even care about the Jets. We’re not going to buy scalper tickets, no way.”

His fiancee, Gillian Rutley, said that True North would have been aware of the risk of scalpers picking up tickets meant for fans, and there should have been safeguards against it.

In the U.S., the Richmond scalper said he’s turned down one legitimate offer of US$12,000. The rest of the emailed responses received by Sunday night were from people angry at him for taking tickets away from local fans.

He’s committed to paying True North $15,000 over three years, said the broker, who’ll consider an offer less than $120,000.

“That’s just a crazy number — I’m not expecting anything like that,” he said. “I don’t even know what they’re worth. If I don’t sell these as a season, I’ll sell them as individual games.”

He’s talked to another broker who hesitated to put down a deposit and commit for years to a market he didn’t know, but there are “massive operations” in the U.S. that he expects are now Winnipeg season ticket holders.

The same seller was asking $500 for a pair of tickets to Sunday’s baseball game between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves, and he picked up $295 for a single seat to the opener of the Dallas-Miami NBA final last week.

On the more reasonable front, another eBay ad offered two $39 tickets for eight games at $640. Face value — but to games of the season ticket holder’s choice.

That unidentified seller is also based somewhere in the U.S., and appears to do business selling tickets to upcoming concerts in major venues in Pittsburgh, Boston and San Jose.

Thousands of distraught souls who didn’t get to buy NHL tickets for the 2011-2012 season in Winnipeg should be careful shopping for tickets sold privately online, police warn.